Charley Crockett, a Rio Grande Valley native, started singing and playing the blues on the street in the French Quarter and Deep Ellum when he was a teenager. "That's where performance started for me," he told D Magazine in March 2016. "Playing on the street was hard love. You make the sacrifice to not have the stability of a paycheck, but you're playing music every day and sharpening your voice and guitar skills." Like an old bluesman from the roaring '20s, Crockett hitchhiked and rode a freight, traveling from town to town around the country to perfect his music on the streets with other performers along the way. He released his debut album, A Stolen Jewel, in 2015, followed by In the Night in 2016. Crockett is known to take an artful blend to his music, sometimes incorporating R&B and honky tonk with his blues.